Eni buys into Ukrainian shale concession

Eni  has signed a Share Purchase Agreement with Ukrainian state-owned National Joint Stock Company Nak Nadra Ukrayny and Cadogan Petroleum Plc to acquire a 50.01% interest and operatorship of the Ukrainian company LLC Westgasinvest.

LLC Westgasinvest currently holds subsoil rights to nine unconventional (shale) gas license areas in the Lviv Basin of Ukraine, totalling approximately 3800 km² of acreage. The Lviv Basin is considered to be one of the most prospective basins in Europe for the exploration of unconventional gas.

The Ukraine is also one of few places in Europe where shale gas exploration is able to develop unimpeded by moratoriums and environmental protests against shale gas ’fracking’. Such is the country’s desire to overcome dependence on Russian gas it is prepared to forge ahead where other countries have moved slower on developing this untapped resource.

Eni has been present in Ukraine since 2011 in the Zagoryanska and Pokroskoe licenses located in the Dniepr-Donetz Basin and operates with Cadogan.

Eni made its entry in the European unconventional gas landscape in 2010 through the acquisition of 3 licenses in the Polish Baltic Basin on which it is currently operating, leveraging the extensive knowledge and expertise acquired through its JV in the Barnett Shale in Texas, the first shale gas basin in the world to be developed on a large-scale.

Adapted from press release by Peter Farrell.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/15062012/eni-buys-into-lviv-basin-ukraine-for-unconventional-gas-exploration/